Within the scope of the “50 Libraries in the 50th Year” project, which was initiated by the Science Dissemination Foundation with 36 libraries in the earthquake regions after the February 6 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, the mass opening ceremony of 15 libraries in Istanbul was held at Beşiktaş Anatolian High School with the participation of the Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Science Dissemination Foundation Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan. Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, Istanbul Provincial Director of National Education Murat Mücahit Yentür and students also attended the program.

420 SQUARE METERS LIBRARY

Speaking about the libraries they opened, Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Science Dissemination Foundation, said, “Of course, our philanthropists supported us when we decided to carry out this service. We keep their names alive on the doors of our libraries. When we said we should build libraries in 50 schools, we asked our Ministry of National Education. Beşiktaş Atatürk Anatolian High School, where we are here today, was our school that needed a touch, even though it had a really big library area. It is one of the distinguished schools of our country. “We have built a 420 square meter library in one of the schools. This is the largest library,” he said.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN EDUCATION

Explaining their work in education, Erdoğan said, “This is very important for Türkiye’s equality of opportunity in education. It is very important for eliminating the imbalances between regions. The Science Dissemination Society Science Dissemination Foundation, which has provided scholarships and accommodation opportunities to more than a million students at the university high school level and provided project supports and overseas education supports to tens of thousands of academics to date, will touch the lives of all students who will pass through here with this library. The science dissemination foundation, which we have built in our Science Dissemination Society, will touch the lives of all students at the secondary and high school levels.” “We provide scholarships to 3 thousand of our student friends in Istanbul. As the Knowledge Dissemination Foundation, we provide scholarships to approximately 4 thousand high school, university and graduate doctor students every year,” he said.

HE EXPLAINED THE SITUATION OF EDUCATION BEFORE 2002

Speaking at the opening, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin said, “Turkey has truly done revolutionary work in the education and training processes in the last twenty years. We are not aware of many things because we live in it. We do not see many things. We, as much as possible, tell some anecdotes about Turkey before 2002 in the environments we attend in our conversations, and at the point we have reached, we see it as a human and Islamic duty to express our gratitude and thank those who have brought us this success or this point. “Unfortunately, we were living in a situation where Turkey ranked second and third from last among OECD member countries in the world rankings in terms of the number of students per teacher, physical capacity and quality of education. In this table, environments such as libraries, workshops and laboratories in our schools were not very noticeable to us because we needed classrooms much more seriously,” he said.

750 THOUSAND CLASSROOMS

Stating that Türkiye currently has 750 thousand classrooms, Minister Tekin said, “Currently, we have approximately 750 thousand classrooms. 750 thousand classrooms throughout Turkey. We had approximately 350 classrooms in 2002. When we look at this number, it seems to have doubled. But if we look at it this way, if we consider that approximately half of those 350 thousand classrooms were demolished and rebuilt for reasons such as earthquakes or ending their economic life, we have approximately 150 thousand classrooms before 2002. “Now, when I say this, some people get upset. Today, we have 750 thousand classrooms. Wouldn’t it be unfair not to thank the people who did this and the politicians who allocated resources for this? According to the TIMS scores announced in December last year, this is a very important indicator for us. PISA scores, which we applied last year, will be announced on September 8, and we are saying that we expect a very good grade there.”

Breaking news… President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the “158th Establishment Anniversary of the Council of State and the Council of State and Administrative Jurisdiction Day Ceremony” in Ankara and gave important messages.

Highlights from President Erdoğan’s statements:

In its modern sense, the state of law is a source of equal light for everyone, like the sun at the top of the day in the middle of the day. Public administration cannot look down on citizens. The administrator is not the master of the citizen, but his servant.

“WE REMEMBERED THE BARBED WIRE MESH”

We put an end to all kinds of privileges and discrimination, and tore down the barbed wire fences that stood between the people and the republic. There is no fear for anyone in the rule of law.

Last Minute | New Constitution message from President Erdoğan! “We put an end to all kinds of privilege and discrimination” | Video

No unlawful interference in the exercise of judicial power can be tolerated or excused. However, the judiciary does not have the right or authority to act or make decisions under the tutelage of the legislature or the executive.

We will continue to increase our efforts for a more fair judicial system. There is a lynching culture on social media.

NEW CONSTITUTION MESSAGE

A new, encompassing, libertarian and civil constitution stands before us with the possibility of building our democracy from the bottom up. We have to transform the Constitution from a framework determined by the coup plotters or elites and imposed on the society into a text determined by the society itself and declared to the state.

Despite the 4 constitutions that followed the Constitution, the Turkish nation’s longing for a good constitution has still not subsided. I believe that with such a constitution, it will be possible for us to achieve a superior legal logic that will protect both law, democracy, state and nation at the same time.

NUN Education and Culture Foundation Chairman of the Board Dr. Esra Albayrak made a statement at the World Decolonization Forum 2026 held at Istanbul Atatürk Cultural Center.

Highlights from Esra Albayrak’s speech

The World Decolonization Forum, organized under the leadership of the Institute Social, started yesterday at the Atatürk Cultural Center in Istanbul. The theme of “Decolonizing Information Production and Circulation” was discussed in the 2-day forum. Artificial intelligence, data colonialism, cultural inequalities and global balance of power were discussed in the program attended by world-renowned experts in their fields. The opening speech of the program was made by Esra Albayrak, Chairman of the Board of NUN Education and Culture Foundation. Albayrak said that today colonialism continues not only through military or economic methods, but also through digital technologies, data flow and information production. Albayrak said, “The mind is the last bastion of colonialism” and emphasized that real liberation will only be possible with intellectual independence.

Dr. Esra Albayrak: “The story of Gaza should be told through their eyes”

COLONIALISM CONTINUES WITH METHODS

In her speech, Esra Albayrak said that the colonial order has changed shape in the modern world. Stating that the dominance established through land occupations in the past continues today through technology, media and data, Albayrak pointed out that especially digital platforms have become decisive in global power relations.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WARNING

Albayrak said that the development of artificial intelligence systems with single-centered data sources may create new inequalities. Stating that the algorithms used in the digital world determine which societies will be visible or which information will come to the fore, Albayrak warned that this could create a new area of ​​addiction in the future.

Referring to the concept of “digital native”, Albayrak said that many concepts used in the world of technology evoke the colonial orders of the past. He stated that developing artificial intelligence models only from the perspective of certain cultures could lead to new problems on a global scale.

THREE-STAGE CALL

In her speech, Esra Albayrak drew attention to the following 3 basic issues in order to be free from colonialism:
1-Re-production of information with societies’ own concepts and cultural references.
2- Cleansing institutions from colonial codes, from education systems to artificial intelligence models.
3-Establishing a more fair and polycentric structure in the global system.

EMPHASIS ON ISTANBUL

Stating that organizing the forum in Istanbul is symbolically important, Albayrak said that the world can no longer be explained only by Western-centered thought systems. Drawing attention to Istanbul’s historical role in bringing different civilizations together, Albayrak stated that a common intellectual transformation is needed for a more just world order.

WORLD FAMOUS NAMES PARTICIPATED

The forum, which will continue today, brought together many international names from different disciplines in Istanbul. Walter Mignolo, known for his work in the field of decolonial theory, Mireille Fanon, daughter of Frantz Fanon and international law expert, Lilian Thuram, former French football player and anti-racism activist, Musician Yusuf İslam, Prof. Dr. Kemal Sayar, Prof. Dr. Enis Doko and Prof. Joseph Massad was among the notable speakers of the event. In addition to academic sessions, exhibitions, cultural events and film screenings will also be held within the scope of the forum.

A new development took place within the scope of the investigations initiated with İZDOĞA, one of the companies of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. Güven Eken, one of the advisors of former Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of İZDOĞA, and Özkan Baturu, one of the former general managers of İZDOĞA, were taken into custody. In addition, a detention order was issued for the former general manager of İZBETON, Heval Savaş Kaya, the deputy general manager of İZBETON, Hüseyin Şimşek, and the representative of the company named Kırveli Mühendislik, who were detained due to the cooperative investigation.

ABUSE OF OFFICE AND ADVANCED FRAUD

It was reported that individuals were detained for abuse of office and qualified fraud within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The detained names were called to testify by the prosecutor’s office in the past months and they did not accept the accusations in their statements.

JUSTIFICATION OF THE INVESTIGATION

It was learned that one of the main basis of the investigation initiated was the works and transactions carried out by İZDOĞA in the past. Some of the allegations in question were also reflected in the Court of Accounts reports.

SECOND HAND MACHINE PURCHASE

The report stated that there were various irregularities and faulty transactions in the tender and implementation processes for the machines purchased for the Şaşal Water Facility. It was stated that there were incompatibilities between the technical specifications and the contract provisions, practices contrary to the legislation were made in advance payments and delay penalties were not applied to the contractor company. The report also noted that the blow molding machine was not delivered within the time specified in the contract and was later replaced with a second-hand machine. It was evaluated that the company suffered financial losses due to this process.

The official program of Queen Mathilde of Belgium, who came to Türkiye upon the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, covering 10-14 May, has started. THY’s scheduled plane carrying the Queen and her accompanying delegation landed at Istanbul Airport at 11.30. Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş welcomed the Queen with a ceremony at the Istanbul Airport State Guesthouse. Queen Mathilde is planned to meet with President Erdoğan and First Lady Erdoğan within the scope of her visit within the framework of the “Belgium Economic Mission”. This high-level visit, which will take place after the Belgian Economic Mission last came to Türkiye 14 years ago, is expected to open the door to a new era in the economic relations of the two countries and move the current cooperation to a more strategic, integrated and sustainable structure.

OVER 400 BUSINESS PEOPLE
Belgium’s high-ranking political and economic representatives also attend the Queen’s program. The delegation includes Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prevot, Minister Responsible for Defense and Foreign Trade Theo Francken and many regional executives. The delegation, chaired by Mathilde, will hold comprehensive meetings until May 14 with the participation of more than 400 business people from approximately 200 Belgian companies. While the trade volume between the two countries exceeded 9.2 billion dollars last year, mutual investments continue to increase.

THEY VISITED BAYKAR
Queen Mathilde of Belgium visited Özdemir Bayraktar National Technology Center. Queen Mathilde was welcomed by Baykar Chairman of the Board of Directors Selçuk Bayraktar. Selçuk Bayraktar showed the Queen around Baykar Facilities.

EMINE ERDOĞAN IN DOLMABAHÇE WITH MATHİLDE
Emine Erdoğan, wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, hosted Queen Mathilde of Belgium at Dolmabahçe Palace. Emine Erdoğan welcomed Queen Mathilde of Belgium, who was visiting Türkiye within the scope of the “Economic Mission”, at the entrance of the Examination Hall of Dolmabahçe Palace. First Lady Erdoğan and Queen Mathilde hugged each other, greeted each other and chatted, took a photo in front of the crystal stairs of the palace and went to Medhal Hall. First Lady Erdoğan then visited the “Century-Old Elegance” exhibition, organized by the Maturation Institute, with Queen Mathilde, which redefines the Turkish cultural heritage inherited from the past as a dynamic building block that builds the future.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, “We know that our mothers have the biggest share in the construction of a strong Türkiye, and I wholeheartedly believe that we will achieve our ‘Türkiye Century’ ideal with the efforts of our valuable mothers.” he said. In his message on Mother’s Day, Erdoğan congratulated mothers on Mother’s Day, who are the pillars of the family and society and who guide life with their compassion and sacrifice.
Emphasizing that, as members of a great civilization that adopts the motto “Heaven is under the feet of mothers”, they always hold the labor and efforts of mothers in high esteem and work for their welfare and peace, Erdoğan said: “We know that our mothers have the biggest share in the construction of a strong Türkiye, and I wholeheartedly believe that we will reach our ‘Turkey Century’ ideal with the efforts of our precious mothers. Our mothers, who deserve the greatest praise and respect, are the Mothers.” “I celebrate this day and remember all our mothers who passed away with mercy and gratitude.”
On the other hand, AK Party also celebrated Mother’s Day with the video it published. The video said, “There is a mother behind every name, every effort, every story. Happy Mother’s Day to our mothers who raise a life, raise a generation, and give strength to our nation.”
Director of Communications Burhanettin Duran also included the following statements in his message: “The most valuable value that adds meaning to our lives is the unrequited love a mother carries in her heart. The labor, sacrifice and prayers of our mothers are the strongest foundation that shapes not only individuals but also the future of society. Their existence is the greatest source of inspiration that gives us the strength to overcome all kinds of difficulties. I congratulate all our mothers, especially the precious mothers of our beloved martyrs, with my most heartfelt feelings, and wish them to the afterlife.” “I remember with prayers our mothers who passed away.”

THERE IS NO DARKNESS IF THERE IS A MOTHER
In her post on Mother’s Day on her social account, President Erdoğan’s wife, Emine Erdoğan, stated that some mothers carry their children in their hearts, some are the greatest support of their children, and some are hope with their fortitude despite the difficulties they experience. Emphasizing that mothers are the greatest light this world has, Erdoğan continued: “If they exist, there is no darkness. I remember with respect the Diyarbakır Mothers who long for children, especially the precious mothers of our martyrs. I feel the pain of Palestinian mothers deep in my heart and wish patience and strength to each of them. I wholeheartedly salute the heroic women who are symbols of resistance against oppression and captivity, first and foremost as mothers.”